On college football

Despite faults, BCS system better than a playoff

November 08, 2008|By Teddy Greenstein

If the BCS had ears, they would have been ablaze this week.

Everyone from Joe Paterno ("Is it the BCS or BSC?") to Pete Carroll ("It stinks") to our next commander in chief ("I'm fed up with these computer rankings") joined the loud, predictable chorus of folks insisting that college football take a blowtorch to the BCS.

My question: Why?

Is it a fairness issue? Or is college football not popular enough already?

Let me tackle the fairness issue first. Most people agree that the best playoff proposal would have eight teams -- six major conference champions and two at-large schools. ESPN.com's Pat Forde proposed that this week.

Well, here's who would get in under that scenario if the season ended today: Alabama (SEC), Texas Tech (Big 12), Penn State (Big Ten), USC (Pac-10), North Carolina (ACC), West Virginia (Big East). The highest-ranked at-large teams are Texas and Florida.

So West Virginia, 25th in the BCS, snags a spot. And No. 6 Oklahoma is out.

A two-loss North Carolina is in. And an undefeated Utah is out.

Sounds pretty fair, doesn't it?

Let's talk about the game's popularity. Division I college football set an attendance record in 2007 with a per-game average of 46,962. The previous record was set in 2006.

Ratings for ABC's "Saturday Night Football" are up 33 percent, thanks to games like Penn State-Ohio State, which outdrew Game 3 of the World Series by 350,000 homes. (By the way, let's applaud a system where the league's best team for six months has its season end in four days.)

This week's college football menu features several delectable choices, including Alabama-LSU and Penn State-Iowa.

You'll be watching, right? How could you resist, knowing both games will affect the hunt for the national championship directly?

If we had an eight-team playoff system, Alabama-LSU would shrink in importance. Alabama is 5-0 in the SEC West, two games ahead of LSU. The Crimson Tide could lose Saturday and still easily make the SEC title game.

A must-win game becomes a would-be-nice-to-win game. Where's the excitement in that?

Same for Penn State. With a playoff, the Nittany Lions could lose to Iowa but still guarantee themselves the Big Ten title if they beat Indiana and Michigan State.

So, again, why does college football need a conventional playoff? So the sport can be more like college basketball, which many of us ignore until February?

The BCS isn't perfect, but it delivers what no other sport can -- a compelling and often kooky drama that stirs the senses each week.

Penn State receiver Deon Butler is among those who say they don't understand all the intricacies of the BCS. But he gets the bottom line: